Tag Archives: diy

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of the year! I’m that cliche girl who loves bedecking my house in everything orange, rust red, and pumpkin shaped/scented/colored but oddly not spiced. I have a little Fall box in the attic with my few decorations and I decided I wanted to expand my collection as inexpensively as I could.

Being a crafty person means I usually have lots of extra materials lying around…as in lots of crap I have no idea what I’ll be using it for but I keep it anyway because I know that one day, one day, I will find the perfect project to go with that useless junk.

This project was really quick and easy and I happened to have everything on hand that I needed. If you’d like to make your own Fall board just follow along on my tutorial!

DIY FALL Board

1″ x 4″ wooden board, cut to 30″ long

Burlap

Letter stencils, 3-4″

Sponge brush

Chalk paint, red or orange

Wood stain (I used Minwax Early American)

Raffia

Faux flower

Twine

Hot glue gun

Begin by staining the wood your desired color. Use the stain sparingly so the wood will dry more quickly. Set aside to dry, 2-3 hours.

Cut four burlap 4″ squares of fabric. Lay stencils on the burlap and gently dab chalk paint being sure to point the sponge brush away from the edges so there is no bleeding and you get a crisp line. Lay aside to dry, 10-20 minutes.

Once the wood is dry, drill two holes near the top two corners using a 1/8″ drill bit or purchase a saw tooth hanger and nail onto the back. String twine through the holes and tie a knot.

Cut 6-8 longs pieces of raffia and tie around the wood, using the hot glue gun to secure the knot to the wood.

Hot glue the faux flower over the center knot of the raffia.

Arrange the letters on the board making sure the spacing is how you like it and then hot glue the corners down.

One of the great joys in my life is that I get to stay at home with my kids. It’s truly amazing to be able to see every little details of their lives from sunup to sundown, but sometimes it gets boring. For them anyway. My entertainment qualities only last until Veggie Tales comes up on their radar, plus I’m the bad guy half the day that won’t let them stomp crackers into the rug or scream “No!” at me at the top of their lungs (I’m looking at you Lailah). Continue reading →

When it’s not blazing hot outside my family loves to be outside playing and enjoying our patio. But we live in Texas so we get a very small window of time in the evenings where we don’t almost choke on the heat when we go outside. We just recently had a “cold front” move through that brought the temperature from highs in the 100s to highs in the mid 80’s and it feelsawesome! Talk about desperate, eh? Eighty feels like the cool chill of fall around here. *insert rolling eyes emoji* Continue reading →

Not because ^these^ aren’t stunningly beautiful and work wonderfully, but because I’m cheap and don’t want to pay $1500 per machine! I’ll take my $700 set thank you very much.

As much as I love to save money there is the unfortunate side effect of affordable products often being a bit blasé. Such is the case of my washer/dryer combo. They work wonderfully, we are happy with what we paid for them, their longevity has been great, but when I look at them…meh.

White.

Boring.

As we were going through our home renovation last August, I remembered I’d seen a photo on Pinterest (of course, where else?!) of someone putting vinyl decals on their washer and dryer. I jumped on the idea because as my laundry room was pulling together, we decided to put my sewing desk and craft supplies in there as well, so it was quickly becoming my little work haven. And if I’m going to be working in a space a lot, it better be pretty!

On one of my many trips to Hobby Lobby I found these decals on a 50% off sale. I snatched them up, ran home, and turned my blasé washer and dryer into something fun and colorful and girly. It almost makes me like doing laundry!

Almost. Let’s not get too carried away.

If you’re looking for a good slap-and-go option I’d go with the polka dots. The chevron pattern was a bit tricky to get level and to line everything up correctly. I did many a redo when I realized my line was off. The end result though was totally worth it and I love walking into my laundry room and having some brightness to greet me.

I hope you enjoyed this quick little DIY inspiration and I’ll see you again soon with my next post!

Does anyone else feel like they’re throwing money into the dryer every time they use a dryer sheet? I used to use them several times until all the smell-good, anti-static goodness was all but wrung out of them. I just hate spending money on things like this, where it’s almost a one-and-done and then you throw them away. And I love fabric softener but the fact that I have to remember to put it in part way through a washing cycle…well…ain’t nobody got time for that! Actually, I’m just way too forgetful.

My mom actually discovered this recipe that is a replacement for dryer sheets and fabric softener! Let’s just take a moment and thank her… Now I will never again have to buy those silly dryer sheets or curse myself for forgetting, yet again, to add fabric softener to a load of clothes. And what’s better than a DIY that helps replace 2 household items all in one? This recipe is beyond simple and inexpensive and I will never go back to dryer sheets again!

Dryer Sheets/Fabric Softener Recipe

2 cups water

1 cup fabric softener

dish sponges

32 oz container

Begin by cutting sponges in half lengthwise.

Pour water and fabric softener into container and stir together. I’m glad storing things in mason jars is so trendy right now. I have so many in my house from canning so they’re always my go-to storage vessel!

I have tried numerous other at home makeup remover recipes in the past and had pretty much lost hope that they could actually work as effectively as store made removers. They either took off hardly any makeup, basically rendering them ineffective, or they would spoil and separate and not blend well. I stopped buying makeup remover wipes a few months ago because I got so tired of spending all that money on something I felt like I should be able to make at home myself! I started using Purity facial cleanser to remove my makeup, which does a great job at removing almost everything but the most stubborn gel eyeliner and mascara.

I decided to give the whole DIY makeup remover thing another go, and this recipe nailed it! I already used up a whole batch and have made another one. This recipe is very simple and I already had all the things at home that I needed. Another huge bonus for me is the fact how inexpensive it is do make this at home yourself!

I’ve got another DIY home decor project to share with y’all today. I love periodically adding new pieces to my decor and rotating different pieces around the house to freshen up the feel of the rooms. Sometimes all it takes to fall back in love with a space is a little bit of redecorating with pieces you already have or adding a small new piece like I did.

I love decorating with succulents so much! I think they are the coolest looking plants and they are so easy to care for. All you have to do is give them a little spritz maybe once a month to keep them going. They are very trendy right now so they are pretty easy to find.

For a while now I’ve been wanting to do a terrarium with succulents somewhere around the house, but terrariums, being as trendy they are, have gone up a lot in price and I just couldn’t stomach paying $30 for a glass box with an opening. I have weird hang ups like that. I know $30 isn’t that much but I enjoy finding things at really good discounts and the terrarium I am using today is no exception. I found it at Hobby Lobby on an 80% off sale for $4.00! It’s a tiny one, but I felt really accomplished and I was so excited to finally be able to do a terrarium for the house. I grabbed some other odds and ends I had lying around and put together this piece.

Supplies

Glass terrarium

Succulent, living or plastic

Glass pebbles

Washi tape

Scissors

First I applied washi tape along the base of the triangle cutting the pieces to fit. I wanted to add some more color and interest to the glass and I really like the metallic sheen that it has. I have lots of pops of metallic golds and silvers in my home already, so I tied this piece in with all of those.

Next I just added the glass pebbles and the succulent to the terrarium. I had an extra plastic succulent already so I used that one. If you use a live succulent, make sure to add a little soil and plant the succulent and then add the glass pebbles all around to cover the dirt. Spritz with water about once a month to keep it happy.

I love the way it looks in my living room! I like to have interesting pieces that are unique and that really speak to my design aesthetic.

We bought a fixer upper house last year and completely stripped it down. I mean no room was untouched! If you’ve ever gone through the renovation process yourself, you know that finishing out the rooms is just half the battle. Since then I’ve been beautifying and personalizing each room to take it from a house to a home. For me, that means pictures, shelves, cheeky little knick knacks that speak to Tyler and I on a personal level, and sometimes DIY projects. Our guest bath to this point has been rather utilitarian. I decided to start giving it some personality and to try and make it warm and welcoming for our guests. One of the ways I did that was to add a floating shelf which I decorated with different odds and ends. When I think of bathrooms I think of baths, obviously, so I decided to make a bottle for some bath salts I had lying around to display them in a more attractive manner. This was a very easy and quick project and I love how it looks! Here is how I did it:

Supplies:

Decorative glass container

Twine

Paper flower

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Bath Salts

You could definitely have prettier salts than epsom salts, but it’s what I had on hand. I started at the bottom of the bottle and glued the end of the twine to it. Then I began wrapping it around the bottle, gluing a small section of the twine every three or four wraps. After I reached the desired height I cut the twine and glued the end. Next, I hot glued a paper flower to the cork. Then I added the salts and added the bottle to my bathroom shelf! Here is the finished product:

My husband actually aesthetically arranged everything. I picked out what I wanted then I got confused on how to lay it out. He’s a genius, that’s all I can say. I love how this turned out and I think it adds a nice touch to the bathroom.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial! Have a wonderful day! Comment with pictures if you end up making this. I’d love to see what you come up with and how you use them!

As a child I was always running around busy doing something. I was either exploring, watching a movie, stealing peoples fries at my parent’s restaurant (hey, you don’t have to be a criminal mastermind, just a 4 year old), or I was making something. Ok, I only stole fries once, and they offered me one…I just ended up taking the whole basket…I plead the fifth. More often than not I was drawing, coloring, taping, and gluing anything I could get my hands on. That crafty spirit has stuck with me in adulthood and it is one of the fondest memories I have growing up. I loved when Mom would take me to Hobby Lobby and we would get feathers, glitter, popsicle sticks, clay, and so many other things. Now that I’m a mother of two kids, I want to try and nurture their creative minds and allow them to have the same crafty opportunities that I did growing up.

Lailah is 2 so she doesn’t do much beyond scribble yet, but Izzy is 4 and at that perfect, fun and creative age. A couple weeks ago I sat down with them and we made tic-tac-toe bags for each of them. I gave them stamps and markers to color one side of the bag and on the other side I drew the lines for the game itself. I had these little wooden hearts lying around so I drew x’s and o’s on them for the game pieces.
They have so much fun with them! Of course Lailah just tosses her bag around, but Izzy really enjoys pulling out her bag that she made and playing with anyone who will sit down with her.

I also made these two bags for them using a few different items as the game pieces. I used my hot glue gun with glitter glue sticks to trace their names.

I put a small piece of cardboard in the bag to keep the glue from transferring to the back and to keep the sharpie from bleeding through. I used a sharpie to write their names so I would have something to trace, as the glue gun can be a bit unwieldy when you’re trying to write neatly. Then I just glued on the other decorations with my glue gun.

Once it dried, which is almost immediately, I flipped it over and traced lines on the back using a ruler to get a straight line.

For the game pieces I just drew x’s and o’s using a sharpie.

These heart pieces were felt stickers that I had in a drawer. I thought it would be a good idea because Lailah wouldn’t be able to choke on them if she got any bright ideas that they looked like they tasted like candy. Buuuuuut she took the paper off the back and stuck them all over the dang house. Not my best idea folks. They looked cute for a minute!

That’s all there is to it! This is an easy and fun project to do with your littles, and I promise they will love it. If you end up making any please comment with any pictures below or tag me on Instagram, @charlsik123. I would love to see what you create! Have fun crafting!

I was cleaning out the girls closet today as it is getting warmer and Lailah (my youngest) is finally outgrowing her 18 month clothes. I felt inspired by these two sweaters, although at the moment I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with them, which is how pretty much all of my projects start. Here’s me at Hobby Lobby or JoAnn with my husband:

Me: “Oh I love this fabric! I’m going to get a couple yards of it.”

Him: “Ok, cool. What are you going to do with it?”

Me: “Uhhhhhhhhh……”

Hey, it all works out! Anywho, I thought how cute the fox and the owl would be if they were toys and that’s just what I ended up doing! It’s quite an easy tutorial, so if your kids have any old graphic tees they’ve outgrown you now have a fun way to repurpose them, if you would like.

Side Note: I got these at Wal-Mart for $3.88 (I believe) so you could go check there if you don’t happen to have a graphic tee or sweater.

I started by laying them each flat and then cut through both front and back around the graphic, leaving about a 1/2 inch around the edges.

Then I put right sides together and drew as close of an approximation of the graphic as I could and pinned the pieces together. You don’t have to be dead on with your tracing, I just wanted to know how far out to place my stitch when I began showing.

Now just sew front and back together leaving about a 2 inch gap for flipping inside out and stuffing with poly-fil.

Then I stuffed my little woodland buddies with poly-fil and sewed the hole together, being careful to hide the stitching.

These could also be cute little decorative pillows for your kids bedrooms, although if I’m being honest, I don’t make their beds. I used to and it looked beautiful, but it somehow acted as a beacon to the little twerps to go jump on the beds and muss them up, even though they never jump on the bed when it’s messy. Like moths to a flame, y’all. Hope you enjoyed this quick little tutorial!

Comment below with a picture of your finished product if you feel inspired by my post! I’d love to see what you come up with!